Final Portfolio Work

Effective Professional Logos and Why They Work

There are a lot of bad logos out there for companies, with messy graphics, crowded content, and images unrelated to the business it’s promoting. But with the bad ones there’s a balance of good ones. Some logos communicate a business’s mission statement very well, and are strong in their images and just minimal enough in their content to not be distracting. If these good logos, there are five examples that can be highlighted.

Apple

This logo, like many if the others on my list, are self-explanatory. It doesn’t need the word “Apple” in the logo, because that’s exactly what it is we’re seeing. The small bite distinguishes it from a full apple, which is ordinary and forgetful. But an apple with a chunk missing has the potential to draw people in with its novelty. The logo also uses a neutral color, so it’s not overbearing or too loud in its color. Instead, it’s a professional gray color, adding to the business-like message the logo is trying to communicate.

Tostinos

First, the logo is fun and creative. It uses letters and images of people eating chips together to create a logo that is fun and festive, drawing in buyers who are going to a party and want people to enjoy the chips or dip they’ve bought. The logo also can be used for its salsa branding and not just the chips. This two-birds-one-stone concept not only saves the company money, but it makes all the products Tostino’s sells seem unified in quality and in attractiveness.

Target

Another logo that needs no words. We know exactly what the company’s called. What it communicates is clever: Whatever we need to shop for, Target is the one-stop shop for everything. We can target that store’s products, and then leave with all our necessities. You as a customer “miss the mark” if you go elsewhere. Also, the contrast in color between red and white is arresting. The red target mark draws you in, and the empty space occupied by white nothingness allows the eye room to explore the target sign undistracted by background images.

Twitter

Again, a very minimal logo, but one that communicates its name without giving it right out. Tweeting and Twitter are bird-associated words, hence why the logo is so strong. The color is a strong communicator too. It’s a shade of blue that’s attractive and easy to look at, and the color communicates that the business is a business of social interactions and is people-oriented.

Beats by Dre

The logo looks like a pair of headphones if you focus on the outer red image, an earbud if you focus more on the inner white image, and a “b” if you look at the inner white image another way. The appearance of two similar images worked seamlessly into one image gives the viewer a sense that the product being advertised is versatile while still maintaining a reliable quality product no matter which version of beats you get.

In conclusion, there are some very good logos out there. These are just a few examples. But the main takeaway for a good logo is to be simplistic, use the appropriate color, and let the logo speak for itself.

Logo Outline- Shannon Feeley

Shannon Feeley            12/6/17

Professor Pabico

COM 322

Communication Graphics

Logo Outline

I am not so much using this logo to advertise a business as I am using to advertise myself. I don’t know for sure where I would like to work in the public relations field once I graduate, and I know I don’t want to start my own public relations business, so I think for this project it would be more advantageous of me to design my own personal logo to help sell myself to any public relations business that I find myself applying to in the future.

I want to convey to audiences (potential employers and future places of employment) that my business (I’ll be advertising myself, so my name for my logo will just be Shannon C. Feeley) is all about quality work, professionalism, and creativity. Again, I really don’t have my heart set on a specific place to be employed at after graduation, I just know that I want to enter the public relations world. If I had to take a guess, I would say that I could see myself working as a PR Specialist at a local theatre, in the local government, or in a nonprofit organization. But because I’m undecided on the subject, this is a better usage of time and resources for the project for me to advertise to the general audience in need of a public relations specialist rather than cater my logo to a particular audience or viewer. The product or service that I will be advertising is my public relations skill set.

The way I want to communicate these messages in my logo is by using color and lines creatively but cleanly. For example, I want to use both a green color and a gold color, because both of those colors symbolize wealth and money, implying that I can be a valuable asset to a potential employer. Both colors, too, are vibrant colors that can, if applied correctly, be used to convey a message of upbeatness, fresh ideas, creativity, and energy. I would like to work with circles, but circles with hard, bold lines rather than soft, thin lines. Circles are more fun than squares and rectangles, and using circles might convey that I can “think outside the box” and be creative while still having those harder lines that communicate professionalism and clean, quality work.

Here are my three thumbnails:

Here's the logo I'm going to be working with:

Picture This!

Communication is inescapable and invaluable in life. As a Public Communications student, I have learned the importance of communication and its four different forms. Though preferred communication methods differ person-to-person, it is undeniable that communication, specifically visual communication and its “tools of the trade”, are interwoven and integral to the world we all live in.

There are four modes of communication: visual, verbal, audio, and written. Each of us responds to these four modes differently. Personally, I have a greater response to audio and written communication because they allow me to translate aural messages into visual communication in my mind, helping me to retain and recollect the transmitted information easier and more reliably than I would looking at a picture or a person speaking. Written communication is similar. Reading written messages gives me the opportunity to create my own visuals, imagine my own emotions and senses, and form clearer opinions on the information I am given without any outside influence.

Visual communication then, at least for me, would be nearly ineffective without images to convey its messages, regardless of whether visual communication happens in one’s mind or in front of one’s eyes. Advertisements use beautiful models, shocking visuals, and pictures of everyday occurrences to evoke certain responses from audiences, even more so than words can ever communicate. This is because visuals are instant and easier for the advertiser to manipulate reader reactions to. For example, the words “smoking kills” cannot create the same emotional response in a reader that a silent commercial depicting a dying smoker flat-lining in the hospital surrounded by loved ones can produce.

Visual communication experts, Disney for example, have logos that are symbolic and easily recognized. Disney’s castle logo communicates a sense of fantasy and adventure that draws young kids in, and draws older audiences in with its nostalgia. The Red Cross is another example, with its logo symbolizing health, recovery, and salvation from disaster or catastrophe. As an organization dedicated to health and wellness, the logo communicates the Red Cross’ purpose well. The Center for Disease Control is yet another example of an entity with strong visual communication skills. Take one look at a nonsmoking or HIV advertisement from them, and the shocking visuals the CDC constructs communicate to readers loud and clear the message being presented. 

Though communication serves to transmit messages to receivers, communication has several different forms of disseminating messages, with different individuals preferring different forms. Personally speaking, I prefer receiving audio and written communication, as they give me greater liberty to create my own visual communication and retain the information presented to me. Visual communication, regardless of how it appears, is still an invaluable component of communication. A picture can communicate more than a thousand words could ever dream of communicating, and companies like Disney, the Red Cross, and the Center for Disease Control have certainly capitalized on this. Thus communication is broad as well as specific and individual, and visual communication particularly is incredibly important to communication as a whole.